Mar 23 Your knit

Adidas has been trialling technology in a pop-up shop in Berlin that enables customers to walk out with newly knitted, custom sweater within a matter of hours. Shoppers enter an in-store laser body scanner and then choose from different design and colour options. A personalised pattern is delivered to an onsite knitting machine for production.

The merino wool sweaters come in at €200 euros and are ready to bag within four hours at the German Knit for You store. The shop is part of a state-supported research project supported by the German government in cooperation with a consortium of private and public organisations. Adidas says Knit for You is exploring localised production ‘while empowering individuals with interactive technology to co-create bespoke garments’.

"If we can give the consumer what they want, where they want it, when they want it, we can decrease risk,” Adidas brand head Eric Liedtke told investors last week. He admitted that, at the moment, the company was merely guessing what might be popular.